We are seeing many of the same questions from our coaches in support tickets and therefore would like to answer those here for everyone to see. We are continually monitoring game results, fixing any bugs that arise, and gathering suggestions for improvements so that we can continue to make the game better and more enjoyable for everyone.

Nobody at WIS pays attention to the forum. If there's enough tickets about something, I might look into it, if I have time. We aren't really monitoring anything, especially game results. You have suggestions? LOL! You think we want your dumb suggestions after we didn't use any of them at all to create this new engine?

How do I control my substitutions now?

In the previous version of the game, coaches had an unrealistic level of control over substitutions that resulted in hockey style line changes between formations. There is not a single college football team playing today that changes out all 11 guys on the field based upon the formation they are using or the play they are running on offense or on defense. This was common in GD. With the new depth chart, you can still control who plays, but the substitutions are done in a much more realistic way. Looking at the offensive side of the ball, your QB and OL will only come out of the game when they are tired... .....We feel this is much more in line with realistic football substitutions.

You don't control your own substitutions. Stop asking me about that. Instead of allowing you to determine what substitution patterns are reasonable for your team, we've decided to make your OL play until they are unable to walk. Just trust us! We know what real football is and we've had a great track record of demonstrating this.

My team was within my maximum field goal setting but did not attempt the FG – why?

The max field goal setting is the maximum distance from which your team will attempt a FG. If you are within your max field goal range, then the engine determines the chances that your kicker will make the FG. This is done looking at your kicker’s ratings (primarily technique and strength), your team’s special teams rating (improved through special teams practice) versus the other team’s special teams rating, and the distance of the kick. Then based upon that chance along with field position and distance to go for the first down, the simulation engine decides if your team will kick the FG, go for the first down, or punt. This means that you may not attempt the FG even if you are within your maximum field goal range.

We ran out of time to really update any of the special teams. So, the decision making is just random now. Realistic football isn't really focused around special teams anyway, so who cares, right? What? Coaches decide when to kick field goals in real life? Well, we haven't achieved that level of realism yet. If you keep buying seasons, we'll put that in our next update (current date slated for 12/10/2012).

My team has been dominating running the ball prior to the update, but now I’m having a hard time generating offense – why?

Numerous teams that were doing very well in the previous version of the engine are setup to run the ball almost every play. In the past, this resulted in long touchdown drives with rare punts. With the update, the running game was made much more realistic in terms of running back performance. The most common run is 2 yards now with about 10% of runs going for a loss and the overall average around 4 yards. This means that a team can’t just run the ball and be successful.

Since I created an engine that allowed teams with really good OL and RBs to run the ball well (I know right, so unrealistic), I've created a yards per carry system that applies to the run game no matter how talented or untalented your offensive personnel is! Now every team will be pass-only in no time! You're welcome for the realism.

Why is my QB throwing more interceptions?

The QB position is impacted most by the increased importance of formation IQ and the addition of an experience factor. For all players, these factors can combine to impact a player’s ratings by as much as +/- 12.5%. At the QB position, a player with a low IQ and/or less experience will force throws into coverage and not see open receivers or know where to go with the ball. The second factor is the style of play dictated by your game plan. An aggressive play call sends receivers further down the field, reduces the number of players providing protection (RB and TE), and requires better protection from the OL to give the QB time to get the ball down the field. Receivers that are further down the field increases the distance of the throw and can reduce accuracy. Less players blocking means an increased chance of pressure, which in turn increases the chances that the QB is rushed and decides to throw into coverage. If you are having interception troubles, you should try dialing back the aggressiveness of your passing game as a first step so that your QB is under less pressure to perform and can better manage the game and take care of the football. Increasing the amount of practice time spent on formation practice would also help.

Formation IQ is so important to QBs now that we aren't able to share with you any information on how quickly they obtain it or if different freshmen have different levels of IQs in various formations. That information would just confuse you guys anyway. That +/- 12.5% number I just threw out there? Lol, I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about interest rates and it sounded like a good number to throw out there.

Why are more upsets happening?

Prior to the update, upsets were relatively rare. If you had the more talented team on paper, you generally won the game. Now that there is increased realism in terms of offensive and defensive performance, team play (IQ), experience, and special teams, a few plays can completely turn a game and allow a lesser team to win. These big plays are what produce upsets and keep things interesting both in GD and in real college football. If we simulated each game 100 times and then determined the winner by the average result, there would never be an upset. However, within those 100 games, there would by some upsets, often the result of a few big plays. But we don’t simulate each game numerous times, just a single time, and it can turn out to be an upset, perhaps because of a few key plays made by the underdog.

We knew the more successful coaches would see through our charade, so we decided to actually make perceived underdogs into overwhelming favorites. The few customers we have left will be thrilled to beat the teams they've been losing to for so long. I mean, to think the more talented team normally wins is insanity! So unrealistic! I was so pleased to see a 12 time defending NC winner losing to a bad team with only 3 defensive linemen. We know we hit this right on the head.

Why was an update to the simulation engine needed?

Over the past several years, we have received a lot of feedback from our coaches about the game. A good portion of the feedback was concerning the realism of player performance, offense vs. defense balance, unrealistic substitutions, and poor clock or game management. These were made the main focus of this update and we believe makes for a much more realistic and fun game. As part of the update, we also positioned the game to allow for more updates in the future with increased stat tracking, the possibility to add more formations, and far greater play-by-play detail.

We had forgotten this game even existed for the past couple years until we were getting hammered at the bar and someone made a joke about how we used to provide support for GD. We obviously didn't take any of your feedback seriously... in fact, we didn't even read it! What do you think this is, a democracy? But buy a 10-pack and enjoy the ride because I am telling you this is more fun. Pay attention to the last line because it says it all. Keep waiting around because I promise we are really going to expand on this rock-solid platform very soon. Maybe. 2 years away, tops. I promise.

We got off to a little bit of a rocky start with some depth chart problems and having to play the first half of games over on 11/17, but we think those problems are behind us now. This update to Gridiron Dynasty is a huge change and one we feel improves the game dramatically both in terms of realism and competitiveness. It also closes many loopholes that had been exploited for quite some time. Please give it some time, and we are confident you will enjoy the new challenge.

So we altered some playoff results and other games of consequence, but the update is so realistic, I know you won't mind! I heard something about a negative reaction in the forum, but I'm sure it's just one or two people so I won't read it. This game is so competitive now that you'll never know whether you'll win or lose! In fact, it's practically a coin flip! Imagine the excitement reading the play-by-play now. Will your #1 overall team be able to come back to beat #118 at home? Well, not if your team runs the ball at all, you won't! LOL! Enjoy suckers!

I had started my own thread before I saw this posted, I think it fits here:

I played nice yesterday. Maybe because I was drinking. But now I'm ******.

From the CRITICAL NEWS:

Why was an update to the simulation engine needed?

Over the past several years, we have received a lot of feedback from our coaches about the game. A good portion of the feedback was concerning the realism of player performance, offense vs. defense balance, unrealistic substitutions, and poor clock or game management. These were made the main focus of this update and we believe makes for a much more realistic and fun game. As part of the update, we also positioned the game to allow for more updates in the future with increased stat tracking, the possibility to add more formations, and far greater play-by-play detail.

What total garbage.

Thank you for whoever was giving all of this feedback. I assume it was those who say the run was too powerful but never built a team to actually tried to stop it. To all of you that went on building all run teams as well to try to win and couldn't. While I won't argue that the TOP D1A Teams were difficult to stop - all mediocre D1A teams could and every lower level team could. Those of us that went out of our way to prove it, did.

To all of you who thought the "unrealistic subsitutions" were that out of line. I won at least half of my NC's my not manipulating line changes at all. Maybe getting a freshman start here and there on lower level teams on 2nd and short, but it was barely an effect on this game. If you wanted to fix freshman starts, the solution was simple - Get rid of freshman starts.

Poor clock and game management? Yes it was. But now it's worse. I can't even decide if I want my Kicker to kick a field goal or not. The Real coach decides that, Sim AI

To all of you that caused this failure, Thank alot. I loved this game.

Posted by polabonez on 11/18/2010 2:02:00 PM (view original):I had started my own thread before I saw this posted, I think it fits here:

I played nice yesterday. Maybe because I was drinking. But now I'm ******.

From the CRITICAL NEWS:

Why was an update to the simulation engine needed?

Over the past several years, we have received a lot of feedback from our coaches about the game. A good portion of the feedback was concerning the realism of player performance, offense vs. defense balance, unrealistic substitutions, and poor clock or game management. These were made the main focus of this update and we believe makes for a much more realistic and fun game. As part of the update, we also positioned the game to allow for more updates in the future with increased stat tracking, the possibility to add more formations, and far greater play-by-play detail.

What total garbage.

Thank you for whoever was giving all of this feedback. I assume it was those who say the run was too powerful but never built a team to actually tried to stop it. To all of you that went on building all run teams as well to try to win and couldn't. While I won't argue that the TOP D1A Teams were difficult to stop - all mediocre D1A teams could and every lower level team could. Those of us that went out of our way to prove it, did.

To all of you who thought the "unrealistic subsitutions" were that out of line. I won at least half of my NC's my not manipulating line changes at all. Maybe getting a freshman start here and there on lower level teams on 2nd and short, but it was barely an effect on this game. If you wanted to fix freshman starts, the solution was simple - Get rid of freshman starts.

Poor clock and game management? Yes it was. But now it's worse. I can't even decide if I want my Kicker to kick a field goal or not. The Real coach decides that, Sim AI

To all of you that caused this failure, Thank alot. I loved this game.

I had a great time going through some of the old posts about the uproar when GD2 was "released" and the insane WIS response/denial of a problem. At least this time they're doing a real beta so we have time to iron a few things out before the next update blows everyone up again.